4/28/09

This is a draft. Keep visiting back as I complete this. Even better option is to help me write it..

It is the year 2029. Five years since Kashmir gained its independence from India and Pakistan. What a joyous day it was exactly six years to the day when the results of the plebiscite were announced and Kashmiris came out in throngs to cast their votes for which they had yearned for over 80 years. The plebiscite was monitored by the UN and never before had an election been so closely monitored. All polling booths had 24 hour monitoring by security cameras. Although both India as well Pakistan still had a sizable military presence in the few bases they still occupied; however, the troops were barred from leaving their bases during the polling days without prior UN approval.

People had the option of advance voting for upto six days before the main day of plebiscite which was on May 15. The plebiscite was being undertaken by the UN. All together more than 120 countries volunteered their resources for this plebiscite. The majority of the peacekeeping force consisted of EU forces and the military operations were supervised by a Turkish commander General Mustafa Sairgul.

Voting started at 7 A.M and people had started lining up outside the booths from the night before. The last vote could be cast until 10 P.M the same day. As per UN directions, the results had to be declared within 12 hours. No one could sleep on that day. People had seen elections for the state assembly under India, but none had the legitimacy as this plebiscite. This would decide the fate of an entire nation. How could anyone sleep that night.

With people still camping out in the streets in the cool night in the month of May, and people dancing and singing traditional songs, Vanvun as Kashmiris call it, everyone was awaiting the results, how could anyone sleep on this night.

The UN appointed commissioner of elections, Mr Schwartzkopff, finally appeared on TV just after midnight and started to give a brief explanation of how the voting results were tallied and the procedure he had to follow. He explained that although there was regional variance in the results; however as per UN guidelines the former state of J&K would not be divided and he would therefore congratulate the people of Kashmir who have chosen independence.

There was not a happier day in Kashmir. There were loud noises of music blaring through loudspeakers and fireworks that lit the sky. At one moment there were so many firecrackers in the sky that it seemed it was daylight.

Both India and Pakistan had earlier withdrawn a majority of their troops from all areas of Kashmir but still maintained a few bases in Srinagar and Muzaffarabad. Shortly after the results of the plebiscite was declared, both countries had been ordered by a UN sanction to vacate all remaining forces within 12 months. Thereafter May --, 2024 was declared as Kashmir's Indepedence Day.

As was aniticipated, there was widespread violence in Jammu city and Leh. Kashmir was still under UN supervision and the EU Commander in charge of all security in Kashmir , Gen. Sairgul requested more international assisstance in maintaining law and order in Jammu city and Leh.

It was agreed upon that there will be a transition period whilst India and Pakistan remove all their troops from Kashmir. Kashmir will be supervised by a UN military mission while a democratically elected government is in place. This way no single political party could manipulate the outcome in their favour. All parties, including the pro-India and Pro-Pakistan, as well as pro-Independence parties could participate in these elections.

Miscreants in Jammu city and Leh had called for a complete boycott of all elections as they claimed that they had voted to join India in the plebiscite therefore all subsequent elections for the Kashmir parliament or for regional councils are meaningless. All political leaders had promised more autonomy to the Jammu and Ladakh regions and promised them complete autonomy and guaranteed representation in the governance of Kashmir.

The resolution to hold a plebiscite in Kashmir was put forth by a special UN committee, which was formed on the recommendation of the UN Security Council in August 2018. That resolution was subsequently debated in the UN General Assembly the following year. "This is a direct assault on the integrity of a sovereign nation, and it is only a matter of time before other sovereign countries will be asked to hold plebiscites in their own troubled regions.", the Indian envoy to the UN, Mr. Prashant Mishra, had warned other member states in his deliberation to the UN General Assembly. The American Ambassador to the UN, Ms Marianne Klassen argued in favour of the plebiscite and noted that, "...the people of Kashmir had been promised a plebiscite by the UN Assembly eighty years ago. It is time to live up to that promise and grant them the basic right of freedom of choice. It is imperative that democracy prevail. That is the least we can do for these beleaguered people.", she had said. The resolution was put to vote in April 2020 and passed with majority of the members voting in favour and only a few abstentions. India was the lone opposer. The security council subsequently held a series of meetings and ratified the resolution. Earlier, China and Russia were rumored to have promised India that they would use their veto power to halt the resolution. Chinese concerns were primarily affixed to the spillover this resolution might have in Tibet. And the Russians were wary of the parallelism that the Kashmir issue had with their troubled region of Chechnya. Inspite of these hurdles, the US had given assurances to both veto wielding powers that a plebiscite in Kashmir would not cascade into demands for plebiscites in Chechnya or Tibet. This seemed to have worked and with US backing, Kashmir was guaranteed a plebiscite.

Immediately after the resolution was passed, there were widespread riots in most states of India. The opposition BJP had threatened a mass procession right upto Srinagar where they had warned they would set up tent colonies in parks and roadsides to assert Indian dominance. "Kashmir is an integral part of our country and an inseparable limb of mother India. You cannot behead our mother and expect us not to react. We give little importance to the UN resolutions. We dare them to even lay a finger on Kashmir", an ailing L.K. Advani had warned from his bedside in Delhi's Apollo hospital. A mammoth procession of close to a fifty thousand heavily armed hindu fundamentalist supporters of Indian Member of Parliament from Pilibhit, UP, Varun Gandhi, were stopped while making their way to Delhi. Police had to use tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowds. He had warned that he would lead the procession to Srinagar within weeks as buses would become available. He never made it - the UN forces were here before.

"A new era of peace and prosperity will usher in South Asia", declared President Christina Williams in reference to the impending plebiscite in Kashmir. She was the first female US president and had served in the Obama administration as Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia under Hillary Clinton. She was later appointed as the Secretary of State during President Obama's second term. Her lasting legacy in her role as Secretary of State was bringing peace to the Middle-East and resolving the Palestine-Israel conflict. This made her an immediate favourite in the US as well as the rest of the world, and she easily cruised to victory in the 2016 US Presidential election. No other previous Democratic candidate in US history had won by a 73% popular vote.

She was determined to resolve the longest unresolved conflict in the world. In 2016, during the last few months of President Obama's presidency, both India and Pakistan had successfully tested laser guided missiles capable of carrying nuclear payloads with a range of over ten thousand miles. The world was horrified at the prospect of yet another war, and none doubted that the Kashmir conflict needed to be resolved to eliminate the only remaining nuclear flashpoint in the world. Kashmir was the most urgent agenda at the Whitehouse.

25 comments:

Very interesting indeed. You sure have a way with words. Here is one of the paragraphs that could happen at the end.

"Militants of the Jammu Liberation Tigers and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Ladakh started infiltrating into Kashmir as soon as Kashmiri independence was formally announced.

Slogans of "KDs go back" were heard on the streets of Jammu and Leh and people vowed to get rid of the small presence of the "Kashmiri 'Slumdog' Army".

Within two years Jammu and Ladakh region had broken away from the original country of Kashmir to be reunited back with their motherland of India.

On the west side of Kashmir, two struggling nations of West Punjab and Pukhtunkhwa had their sights on the beauty and wealth of Kashmir and its historically weak army. Fearing their armed aggression, the new government in Kashmir appealed for help from the Indian government, in a somewhat repeat performance of 1948.

The Indian government offered reinstate Art 370 of its constition and to provide assistance in security, foreign affairs, and communications in exchange for Kashmiri autonomy. Kashmiri politicians fearing for their safety and the safety of their people signed on to the Agreement in Srinagar yesterday".

Liberal MJammu Liberation Tigers are getting arms from Republic Northern India. The President of Khalistan assures Confederation of Jammu and Kashmir of his support to fight the Hindu Terrorism, which started soon after the breakup of former India into 15 seperate countries. It has unleashed a reign of terror in Khalistan, Republic of Assam, Republic of Nagaland, Republic of Tamil Nad, Islamic Republic of Deccan, State of Lucknow, and other countries. President of US Mr. Garry Adams has asked world leaders to join hands in the fight against Hindu Terrorism. To be continued....

Nice Fiction!!! Kudos!!! I am proud that at least we have our very own Robert Ludlum, Ken Follet. Keep on writing buddy, u rock and you write very well.

@Kashmir Center:Fight against "Hindu Terrorism".:)..You sure do have a sense of humour, or the current global scene with respect to the "I..... Terrorism" seems to have finally got to your senses. (Can't really blame you.)Something similar to the senses,watch this( u guys must have surely watched this, it was such a hit)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7iOqvIqeq0

watch other parts too.Enjoy.

And please dont disrespect Kashmiris by acting like those fools. I plead, leave the Kashmiri pride intact.

And please let me know(if you know), was this a comedy program or was it serious pak media.I am quite sure it must be some comedy channel.Isn't it?regards-corekashmiri

Dreaming is a must for everyone, so is imagining. Thinking is fine too. Until this time everything is "mind games". The next step you suggest is "Act". Here everything must meet the acid test of reality and only a tiny set of dreams actually will see the light of the day. Rest will end either in failure or tragedy.

Some Kashmiris fondly dream of being an independent country. There are also some Indians who dream of having an India that spans from Gandhar (Kandahar, Afghanistan) to Brahmadesh (Burma). In my opinion, both dreams are equally unrealistic for many reasons.

Liberal... I agree with you to a great extent that it is finally Action or Inaction which decides the course of events. 30 yrs back when I was a kid, we used to watch a quiz show on Pakistani TV called Neelam Ghar. One of the questions asked was "Which nation wants independence but are not willing to work for that?" The answer was Kashmir. We have a problem of inaction on many fronts. We want a corrupt free society but dont do anything about it, we want neat and clean surroundings but do not do anything, we want to eradicate dowry system (which is against Islam as well) but do not do anything about it. I must confess that Kashmiris in general lack sense of action on urgent or important matters. We always want someone else to do things for us. We need to come out of this and this needs leadership which we definitely lack at this point.

@Ajaz,Kashmiris including your parents dont have any problems of inaction (please dont disrespect them), but they were intelligent enough to make the right decisions,just as were the people of the age of your grand parents who fought along the Indian army to drive out Kabalis and Pakistanis back when they started plundering Kashmir and committing atrocities on the Kashmiri population. They didnt care whether you were a Muslim or a Hindu.

Now Please stop quoting those Pakistani fools and particularly this Tariq Aziz(host of Neelam ghar). The world is witnessing their plight of stupidity and where it has landed them.

Its better to fight for whatever you are fighting for, but don't at least disrespect your struggle by quoting some mad fanatics from this hell of a country.

By the way, watch this Pakistans Intelligence expert.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahZGK5S9ZZo

I am quite sure, you must have watched this.Now I still believe, this is not serious Pak media, but some comedy program and those guys must be some stand up comedians.And if they are not, just see how they have made a mockery of themselves. So please dont even think of comparing a great Kashmiri race with those fools or seek to know their opinion.They dont even know what they are doing.

Kashmiri are quite intelligent and respectable than those cartoons. So dont let Kashmiris down by saying what you have written.

Dear Anonymous, I have not compared Kashmiris with anyone. Kashmiris have never fought alongside Indians. There were so many Maharajas and Nawabs who sided with Britishers, but in general Indians wanted freedom. Just because a few greedy Kashmiris fought agianst Kabalis does not mean that KASHMIRIS fought alongside Indians. You have black sheep in any community.As per Indian sources, Atal Bihari also gave a false witness in the court ( I dont remember rightly)or sided with Britishers. Dont talk about exceptions.I agree that Kashmiris as such are a great race, (Pundits and Muslims) and far intellectual than even Dogras.I will never ever believe that Kashmiris are fighting because of being Muslims.Kashmiris are fighting a political fight not a religious one. That is why I feel that Pundits should not have left and should have stayed back. I agree the our freedom struggle was hijacked by few Pakistani groups in the begining.It took some time for Kashmiris to realize this. I would say that Pundits should come back to Kashmir without any condition and support the freedom struggle Kashmiris Muslims. If Pundits dont want to support, at least they must not become the agents of India and live in peace with Muslims. Before that, Pundits must give the true witness and turn down the false claims that thousands of Pundits were killed. We often hear in Indian chanels and on internet, Indians claiming that thousands of Pundits were killed. They must stop the false propaganda. I dont deny that few hundred pundits were killed though, some innoncent some informers. ajaztam@hotmail.com

Very eloquently explained.I left a post written halfway, and never posted it, about Panun Kashmir claims of "genocide" and was shocked to learn that they dream of displacing hundreds of thousands of muslims from North of Jhelum and turn it into a Pandit homeland. Just plain disgusting such communal thinking.

Ajaz and KoshurI agree with you about Pandits. Some pandit teacher by the name of JL BHAT is all out to malign Kashmiris over my blog. He has some illusions and has been given some fitting replies. Visit my blog and read his rubbish argument.

Kashmir is slave of its own people - kashmir always had kashmir's representing him in so called indian elections Having army out of kashmir is all in hands of kashmir's - it is our own kashmiri beaurocratic team which wants kashmri's to be tortured by army

It is fight against our own selfish leaders - those are kashmiri blood - India has nothing to do with it . article 370 protects kashmir and it is kashmiri's who are occupying other parts Of india - banglore , mysore , pune even gujrat and oldest calcutta - all have locations belonging to just kashmir's why our leaders do not want army out of kashmir - why they want to see their own blood , own people getting tortured - It is what I am not able to understand

Anonymous, Ghandi and many Indians worked in South Africa and that does not mean Indians occupied South Africa,Indians working in many parts of the world US, Britian, Australia does not mean they have occupied those countries.How can you say that Kashmiris have occupied blore,Mysore,Pune,Calcutta etc.The fact is that Kashmiris are a different people and become distinct and prominent among ordinary Indians. That makes you think that Kashmiris are everwhere.The reason that many kashmiris are outside kashmir in many cities is that they want to escape the torture of Indian slumdog army. This itself proves how dictatorial indian occupation in Kashmir is.Otherwise no one would want to leave Kashmir and live in slumdog country India. ajaztam@hotmail.com

Koshur, While you claim to be non-communal yourself, notice one thing: you only talked about "freedom" for Kashmir and Palestine. Subconsciously, it shows you are biased. There are many other freedom movements that you somehow failed to mention, or consider them worthy of independence, probably because most Muslims are only concerned with Muslims. Btw, if Kashmir got independence, then either it will be Kashmir valley only, or it won't be called Kashmir, i.e. if Jammu became part of it.

What about independence of swat valley - why pakistan is actually illegally controlling the princely state and now bombarding innocent people

It like kashmir accepted to part of pakistan but indepenedent constitution - swat was never even part of british india - see what pakistan did to them used them for kashmir , afganistan and now killing them just for US money Thank God we were saved by india during all indo pak wars

Hi All,Just wanted to share some interesting observations I made over last few months here in US.I just used to watch sports channels here.lately I started watching some local american channels and I observed how starkly different subject matter topics with regards to India and Pakistan are. And these are regular features on those channels over the last few months. here you go:

Please write to your local Members of Congress and Senators about Kashmir. Inform them that you are aware of crimes committed by Indian forces occupying Kashmir and that you would like the US to intervene. Please also take time to write to President Obama. His site is linked below.Click here to visit President Obama's site.

Learn Kashmiri

One day, inshallah, Kashmiri will be taught in our schools. Until then please visit the following site and learn to write Kashmiri and read and listen to some lyrics of Kashmiri musicClick here to visit the site